the program people in russia are being asked to wrap their brains and come up with the official mascot for the two thousand and fourteen winter olympics and paralympics in sochi the symbol will be chosen in a national competition that's about to get underway short of us as more. it's certainly an unprecedented event it's the first time in olympic history that such an event has been open to so many and what i mean by that is that the competition is open to any russian citizen living permanently within the country of russia and so anyone can join it's also going to be voted on in chosen by s.m.s. text voting by anyone in the country so it's the first time that the mascot will be designed by someone from just any random person in the country as well as chosen by the general public it's also significant in terms of the fact that this mosque this mascot will be the face of the olympics in two thousand and fourteen down in sochi so the race is on it to find that next person now also in terms of how many people

can enter anyone can enter in terms if they are russian citizens and how many times can they enter pretty much as many times as they want so it begs the question if you look back in history to the one nine hundred eighty olympics there was me should the bear but now we have the winter olympics and so there are many people who are speculating whether or not another cute little furry creature she brushed up a fictional character from up russia will be the next olympic mascot down in twenty fourteen it's significant for many reasons number one because it brings a general unity face to the olympics it's a character that people can identify with also there's a possibility of generating revenue in terms of mascots their collector's pins their their their face that people can identify with you can have plush toys that are involved with it but generally it's a character that the entire country can rally around that everybody can get behind also it kind of that brings up that olympic fever traditionally the mascot is

announced three years was actually presented three years before the sochi olympics and so the winner of this competition will be presented in february of two thousand and eleven just three years before the sochi olympics begin. sean thomas there will still to come on our day to swap. summer school or. the first day of school in moscow brings i think greater diversity i have details coming out. president barack obama has made a televised address to americans barking official end of combat operations in iraq he said the war is now a closed chapter and praised the u.s. military for helping to give iraq back to its people although combat soldiers have left iraq fifty thousand u.s. troops remain there to train local forces in his speech obama reiterated his pledge for full pull out in a year's time he also said resources will not be diverted to afghanistan for intensified operations against al qaida but he added that with going to do course

the president then turn to america's ailing economy restoring it is the country's most urgent task out of somewhere director of the council for national interest says its financial problems which worry americans the most. i suspect we're going to see the very partisan divisions that we see too often these days. even he saw for unity in his speech it was a. virtues of the state's exhibit missing pieces so he sort of hit those notes the way you supposed to do is this i do think that the majority of people in this country dislike the kind of partisan bickering that we continue to see i think that this speech will pass. so i think they'll be mixed reactions i think republicans will see certainly democrats will see it in the early and meanwhile the number of troops into afghanistan. egypt of course go on talking to me i think you want to switch it to that because of course that's what many

americans out there so many people that have lost jobs here that lost so the economy and its direct result of the war is a major factor here and i think she tried to discuss that. moved in that direction and tried to give people the attention that something positive would be happening on that sphere again i think you'll find the democrats supporting him and the republicans that's one of the draws of the president is to be a leader to make people feel confident that there are some that their nation is in good hands one of the important rules is to inspire people to certain action to keep it isn't some kind of compassion so i think that was no matter the speech that he was trying to assume that important position and he may have six i think you can obviously succeeded with many people but i don't think he did succeed with everyone will be much less well meanwhile iraq remains in political deadlock often

inconclusive election in march while insurgency continues to plague the country in the past week dozens of civilians have died in a wave of terror attacks baghdad based journalist nir rosen has chronicled the wall says america's declared victory comes at a high price for iraqi people. they didn't get rid of saddam hussein at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives of iraqis millions of displaced tens of thousands of iraqis who were languished in american prisons years of their lives were lost york is destroyed shattered dirty desperate people of very poor living amidst trash during hours of checkpoints and desperately trying to obtain electricity so yes there are some freedoms. that exist now that didn't exist before but there's also the iraqis say a democracy of death and a random bombings in the freedom to die in the street so there's no way to say whether it was worth it and what strikes me every day that i'm here is on

a family i meet that hasn't had their men murdered kidnapped beheaded defend these displaced not a family you meet hasn't been touched by the occupation the violence that came with it so why the american administration is celebrating its victory i think we should never forget the high cost of iraqis paid for this american victory. meanwhile artie's military analyst says the shift of attention from iraq to afghanistan was work until the u.s. saw the conflicting agendas of its own agencies that. while the white house puts its spin on the rebranding of the u.s. combat forces in iraq the real drama regarding the u.s. policy is slowly unfolding in afghanistan it was richard holbrooke one year ago that the united states has to abandon any efforts to eradicate him poppy fields in afghanistan what is really striking just recently the same approach has been

replicated regarding the fight against corruption the main logic among the us decision makers who are trying to sabotage the general petraeus efforts in afghanistan is based on a false assumption that if you push too hard against the drug farmers or against the evident politicians they will be driven into the hands of the taliban nowadays the us foreign policy in afghanistan is completely torn apart by the turf battles between the different american agencies on the one side the cia provides the political cover for its corrupted and drug infested assets on the other side the d.a. and f.b.i. doing their best trying to overcome the resistance from that afghan president who also provides political cover and protection for he's warlords for his corrupted drug lords and cronies that's why the us president doesn't have the luxury to wait

till december for the us afghan policy review. commemorations to mark six years since the best school seeds have begun in russia's republic of north a sense here more than three hundred died in the massacre by chechen militants who became the focus of russia's terrorism crackdown. hugo piskun ofis in north a six year in the town of poets by the tragedy. it's a very sad day in this land today six years since the city's school number one became the scene of a truly horrific terrorist attack when this day is the first part of the three days of commemoration of events marking each day of the siege according to the unfortunate tradition people gather here at school number one bringing flowers on lighting up candles three hundred thirty balloons are going to be released into the air in accordance with the amount of victims of the attack and although six years have passed the events of those days and the emotions are still fresh in the

people's memories since their days six years ago. have been best friends although the prefer not to talk about what united them the nightmare which still makes them afraid of the first day of the school year sure glad when the man was killed why in front of us children. he's barely laid their breeding throughout the entire three days i think he used to work in the school both girls were going to the first grade but instead along with over a thousand other people they were held at gunpoint for three days by a group of armed men rigged with explosives. and we were given this much water on the first day and that was it. all held in a terrifying ordeal which shocked the world several people were killed straight away many were forced to drink their own urine this place speaks for itself what's left of the school's gymnasium where most of the hostages were kept during the

three day long nightmare denied food and water with the pictures of the victims on the walls and the hundreds of signs this room is still filled with grief and sorrow on the third day of the siege a random shot is thought to have a lot of the terrorists explosions ring out and the shooting began special forces entered the building prepared to lead their lives to see the children most of the terrorists were eliminated but by that time over three hundred innocent lives had been lost. son and nice were killed in the attack she now has the mothers of comedian organization founded to ensure the memory of the tragedy is never forgotten with this site of the horror a memorial. visited this changes people and their views on. this not looking at it from a different perspective she. cherishing one and. the

attack brought a huge international reaction with sympathy and help offered from around the world many of the survivors went through rehabilitation in other parts of russia and in europe but despite the brave battle for cover you for those whose lives changed forever that day it will be a long time before the first of september will once again be a celebration of the new school year echoing the children's laughter in this town you got our d. . line here. in around fifteen minutes we'll bring you our special in-depth report on the best known school siege. they're cloudless childhood was overshadowed by this tragedy. they still feel the fear they faced. and remember every second of this nightmare. that will remain in their memories and hearts forever. the town and using soldiers

. innocent. tom a little angels one ought to be. some . super. secret. they managed not only to stay alive was but to keep their faces and souls in human circumstances. nine hundred dangers in busy. really ozzy's your mom she.

now struck out some of unease making headlines around the world the militant wing of hamas says it was behind the killing of four israelis in the west bank including a pregnant woman and two men and two women died when their car was fired on by a gunman in the city are blown up on the eve of fresh peace talks taking place in washington the israeli and palestinian leadership demonstrates homes around three thousand people in gaza took to the streets to celebrate. c.e.o. news of the chilean miners which collapsed trapping thirty three workers have asked for forgiveness at the herring in front of lawmakers the miners have been stuck

seven hundred meters underground since the beginning august drilling is on the way to try and get them out that could take up to four months to complete nasa specialists including a doctor trisha nist and psychologists are heading to the site. so tens of. thousands of children in pakistan are bearing the brunt of waterborne diseases that are spreading due to severe flooding in the country officials say they were affected by a rise of cases of malaria from stagnant water more than one hundred thousand pregnant women are also facing the risk of infection and disease the worst ever flooding in the country has claimed sixteen hundred lives with seventeen million affected. and more than six thousand indonesian villagers have returned to their homes on the slopes of the mount some of them will cain and that's despite warnings that they're putting their lives at risk after a surprise eruption of the weekend which forced the thirty thousand residents to be evacuated to safety the volcano had been dormant for two hundred years and

officials admit they were not want to train its behavior. now millions of russian students are returning to school after a three month summer holiday they're getting back down to work with mixed feelings of enthusiasm and trepidation and this year officials in moscow are piloting a scheme integrating disabled peoples into mainstream schools if ns went along to one of them. what's going on right now is a ceremony able see a little bit of a behind me there was music playing earlier but now there it's died down a bit and what they're just talking and the kids are greeting their new teachers with flowers so it's a special time in their new faces among the crowd as moscow officially introduces its inclusive education which brings its able students and non-disabled students together officially now there's been some schools like the one behind me that have been doing this for a while the schools actually been integrating students for about six years but

moscow is officially starting to do it overall and that in this is based off of a decision by the moscow city duma that passed a bill that said that there can be up to three church disabled students in a classroom but those numbers cannot exist exceed ten percent of the overall student body if you take a look at at russia and moscow it's pretty difficult for people who are part of the stable community not only is it difficult to just get around in the streets but it's also difficult to just get integrated in the rest of society because there has been such a negative stigma but this program is meant to tackle that at an early age and at this school the kids don't just don't describe their students as disabled or non-disabled they're just regular students are not allowed to use those terms in the classroom so it's meant to help able body students to think about disabled students as regular people and to treat them with tolerance and respect and

acceptance and also gives this able body student chance to meet and to experience something that all kids want to be a part of going to a regular classroom meeting friends playing having a teacher we talked to a family today and here's what they shared with us. i really want to go to school and i'm happy i can study now because so many schools refused to take me before just because i can. work of course and word to bond him but they want him to be more social to be independent and to get a real profession in the future. it was impossible to get all of the stools to start this integrated lessons this year but two hundred schools in moscow take it apart and so students from far away outside of the mosque us to me live city limits are coming in with the opportunity to have this kind of an educational experience but by next year all schools should be up and ready with the special desk grant and poised in order to have

a more integrated classroom. nothing stephanie monday will be here in a few moments to bring us all the business news starts. every month we give you the future the best in science and technology from across russia and around the world. join us for technology update on our jeep. with. this data data generated from an electrical grid honest to data you can do it or do it in california the current role turns of energy sources help present black and. let's go to supporting. hello welcome to the business but in vladimir putin has been visiting the city of new to see the town up to two of the country's biggest miner there was nick who is

currently the subject of a battle for control boys two biggest shareholders who sell chief like that of pasta and vitamin petang in ahead of intervals the two billion as each own twenty five percent of want to buy the other out which a noted that the conflict was damaging at the company and the solution was that the government insists it will not force the issue is known as known who continues to operate successfully. the dispute appears to boil down to a difference of opinion about how nichols should be run and who should benefit the company's chief executive ladder misjudge a cough ski describes the problem as he sees it. conflict is due to a difference in interests one side wants a gradual development of the company to improve environmental and social conditions while the other one wants to take everything that isn't a company and even more i'm against taking the money out this may benefit shareholders right now but in the next years the company won't be able to develop.

their so is adamant it will not sell up instead that a pascoe says he will try to get minority shareholders to agree to a point independent professionals to the board but the chief executive of no nickel left little doubt as to which shareholder he was favoring as he referred to the twenty nine percent drop in russo prices at the beginning of the year the company led by that of pasco. so your search since the beginning of the nickel has been the only company to increase its share price twenty three percent of us have a negative dynamic the leader among them is the person you just interviewed with a twenty nine percent because the person who tells us how to work how to control our company he's the leader among losers now whatever he says we listen to through the prism of a person who did not succeed in managing a company successfully we have the world's highest dividends fifty percent seventy

eight percent is the world's average and everyone's happy here for some people fifty percent is not enough. let's turn now to the extreme markets asian stocks are high on whether to stay bouncing back from the previous session the losses are rising chinese manufacturing data has given a small base to invest in sentiment better than expected g.d.p. growth in australia the biggest supplier of oil into china has also had a positive effect in the region. the russian markets finished tuesday's session in the red but energy stocks advanced into the close and telecom continued its winning streak from monday the only. three in the hot sun. russia's second largest oil producer has announced a net income for the second quarter fell sixteen percent to two billion dollars that's despite a strong wise in revenues the company says it was hit by taxes and costs which rise faster than the price of crude oil separately the company says it does not intend

to buy back the entire eleven point six percent of it shares from current owner conoco phillips speaking exclusively to business r.t. vice president biden explained why. if we think that the purchase of almost eight percent of shares is enough to reduce the tension on the market and to assure that our shares show enough value on their own the company is interested in increasing its free float the more shares on the market the more stable they are we are also looking at listing on one of the asian markets in the future i think it's enough to ensure future stable and reliable company before. foreign carmakers at the moscow international need to show have tipped to russia to drive vessels out of the economic downturn but experts warn success will come at the expense of domestic brands daniel bushell reports. car giant jazz shows off the models it hopes will kickstart sales this year for the first time is presenting no

cause only van's alter stats called his main cause a cyber one seat unit with january to june sales scraping one thousand amid reports so i was production line will be turned over to miss a these g.m. or told to cause the chairman of gases he's now banking on these bizarre was my first focus is to make sure that big our sales are successful between now and the end of here told to get sell sales will be around seventy five thousand russia's largest automaker after of as is gearing up to make calls for renault and nissan top analyst deal in a second numa told r.t. this malta the beginning of the end for the clunky lot of brands leading to a joint toyota plant making only florida models the stands betting on a spurt in its own russian sales we really go on our fiscal year which is end of march up to one i'm not positive gal's which small as a double for the before well increasing the market share so it's such a such

a positive for the first time last month for you cause in russia outsold domestics without radical redesign experts see the wheels coming off national producers russia will overtake germany here just coming in as early as next year the mind share that foreign car meaning the domestic brands something the end of the road is approaching the new version i'll take. and that's often the business theme for now but i'll be back with morphine next hour and of course you can to his final stories on our website that flat. if.

the drum money gets some bullets from the city. during. the night. they managed not only to stay alive. but to keep their faces and souls in inhuman circumstances. nine hundred dangers in busines to women ran through the eyes of the sioux might see.

some. come. come. come. come. come the one coming up. this street still keeps its secrets good. now it's time to feel that the soviet files. the two black boxes.

more news today. flatow for these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. today. wealthy british style the stock. market. find out what's really happening to the global economy. for a no holds barred the global financial headlines kaiser report. coming into the future. q one cars what makes a mechanical engineer an automotive pioneer open

a book and reason world's most innovative stu's choose the checkered flag. they feasted this is not a provocation but war. seems to be sure to stay everybody is sure to support the tree because they have no idea about the hardships that face. plate wanted this is. to do things for the army the life of the use of them is the most precious thing in the world. is of self-sacrifice and heroism but those who understand it fully but you have to live a. real life stories from world war two. nineteen forty five don't call.

them pick competition the battle to create the best mascots for the two thousand and fourteen winter games in russia kicks off with a nationwide contest. time to turn the page president obama praises u.s. soldiers as the iraq combat mission officially ends he said they've put iraq's future back in the hands of its people and the focus can now be shifted to america's ailing economy. equal opportunities for all disabled pupils in russia to mainstream schools for the first time pilot scheme promoting integration. and tears of sorrow russia remembers the deadly beslan school massacre six years ago which left more than three hundred people dead most of them children . and for more on the best. brings you a special report town of the angels coming up right now.